European Citizenship

Eurozine is a non-profit web-magazine publishing articles on European culture and politics. It is run by a network of European cultural journals, and with this base in printed journals it provides a sharp and relevant Europe-wide overview of current themes and discourses. In 1998, Eurozine emerged from an informal network of European cultural magazines dating back to 1983.

Here is how they describe their own philosophy:

«Whenever European culture is discussed today, its diversity is evoked with near euphoria. The true challenge is to take diversity seriously and make room for new perspectives — whether in word or thought. Only a rich and free- wheeling dialogue has the potential to forge a common identity and put it to the proof.»

Among the many different articles on Eurozine, there are some that are particularly relevant for the discourses around European citizenship.

Here is a small selection of articles — enjoy reading!

Who’s afraid of Europe? by Slavenka Drakulic

Slavenka Drakulic, a committed European, expresses doubts in the continuing momentum of European integration amidst rising anxieties about a loss of national identity. Mirrored in the success of right-wing and populist parties across Europe and concerns being voiced in the post-communist countries queuing for “entry” as well, this anxiety, however, focuses on a cultural construct, the author argues. To make the project Europe work, a new kind of imagined community will need to be created - is Europe ready for that?

Who are the citizens of Europe? by Rainer Bauböck

Current citizenship laws in the European Union vary dramatically. The tension between freedom of movement and national self-determination of citizenship within the EU has the potential to create serious conflicts in the future, writes Rainer Bauböck. Taking European citizenship seriously means a shared understanding of who the future citizens of Europe are to be.

Citizenship as a learning process by Gerard Delanty

In the dominant liberal discourse on citizenship, learning processes have tended to be reduced to citizenship classes and formal membership of the polity. In an article first published in 2003, Gerard Delanty contrasts this type of “disciplinary citizenship” with a notion of “cultural citizenship”. Delanty develops the notion of cultural citizenship in terms of learning processes at both the individual and collective levels; such processes, rather than merely demanding cognitive competence, have a developmental and transformative impact on the learning subject.

Mobile citizenship? by Ivaylo Ditchev

Approaches to migration often fall into one of two camps: anti-neoliberal hostility or euphoria at “flows”. Yet the “new mobility” implies new freedoms as well as new privations. Researching the biographies of Bulgarian migrants, Ivaylo Ditchev finds that the horizon of departure has become a basic dimension of the world. Mobility, he writes, will need to be taken more seriously in the anthropology of citizenship.

Elusive Common Dreams by Ales Debeljak

Western Europe lives like an isolated family without any feelings for the post-communist states on the same continent, says the Slovene poet and essayist Ales Debeljak. He explores the perils and hopes of a European Identity and tries to formulate a defense for a broader conception of Europe and seeks a European “master narrative” that makes the creation of a real European identity possible.

All images in this post are from the Eurozine Gallery about suprealist Leonhard Lapin, an Estonian artist and architect.

This post is filed under youth information and youth materials and youth reflections and youth research and youth writing and is tagged with cultural citizenship, eurozine, magazine.